I am bad at GMing - No compels.

[aardvark]

So i obviously have a problem at GMing DF and Fate as it is. For an 4 hour session with 3 players i will make 2 compels, at my best.  An it is a problem because players did not get steady flow of Fate Points. And after time they getting more passive and cautious.
This really frustrate me. Obviously i am not trying hard enough, so any of you can help me with some words?

PS. I have large GM experience with non Fate systems and about 5-7 games with Fate ones.

[Masurao]

Tips for you as GM: make a note with everyone's Aspects, so you can keep easy track of them. Or at least, more easily

For the players, perhaps you could set up a bit of a reward system in which they help you by self-compelling, or noting when others can be compelled. This will ask for interaction between you and the players and give you tips on when you can compel.

Perhaps others with more experience will have more tips.

[zenten]

Can you post the PCs aspects, and examples of stuff that has happened in game?

[polkaneverdies]

I would strongly recommend having a cheat sheet with all the characters aspects on it. I second the notion that you should encourage self compels and players nominating each other for self compels. They will probably be better at thinking of it than you once they see the benefit to doing it.
 Don't forget to compel scene aspects as well. They tend to be a lot easier to remember if you are having trouble keeping track of the all of the character's aspects.
 One example from Fred Hicks that I really like was in an "old and busted house" a compel to fall through a "weak floor" into the basement. It is simple and sucky for the character, but not earth shattering.

[DFJunkie]

First of all, let's get some perspective: are your players having fun?  Then you're not bad at GMing.

I've had the same issue in the past.  While I'm not sure how much my fixes will help, I'll share them with you.

The first thing I did was make up a little excel spread sheet of all my PCs aspects and keep it handy while I was planning the session, and again during the game itself.  I don't know what your prep process is like, but when you're coming up with your plots consider how you'll employ the aspects in the game.  Also, having the list there at hand will help during the actual session as well.

Second, feel free to discuss changing the aspects with your group.  When we were putting the group together we got a little too sucked into pithy or poetic aspects rather than useful ones.  If you have no idea how to compel an aspect feel free to talk to the players and ask them either how they intended it to be compelled or, if they agree that it's a dud, go over how to fix it.

Finally, don't feel like every compel needs to be a perfect fit.  I feel like the book does a bit of a disservice since all the compel examples are pretty much on the nose.  If your  players want fate points and understand that a game with complications is an interesting game you can always stretch their aspects a bit. 

[Lanir]

My first thought was basically to get help from the players. Others have mentioned ways to do that already.

Second thing I thought of was possibly concentrating on one aspect per character. Whether you pull it out of a hat, pick it yourself or ask the players to nominate one of their own aspects, do whatever works. Just get one per PC and make sure you work a compel on it into the session. You can pair this with the idea of having the players help suggest compels against other aspects as well. The benefit here is you get to narrow down what you're doing and not drown yourself in options. The disadvantage is you may still skip some compels you could be making (no way to avoid this, you're learning), depending on how you pick the aspect the players may have advance notice of it which may or may not give part of your story away, and if you choose an aspect that's hard to use you may end up chasing your tail trying to use it or just outright fail to bring it into play at all.

[ways and means]

Self-compels, get your players too recommend when their aspects should come into play, also I recommend building your plot around your characters so their aspects come up a lot. I had one pc with the trouble sucker for a pretty face and so I made sure there were at least one femme fetale or DID per milestone.

[Veet]

Masurao pretty much summed up the advice I would give. One thing I've had success with also is making sure that I pick one scene per session per character where I pick on one of the characters using compels making sure they get 2 or 3 fate points so they have them later when a bad shows up. It's made for some very fun times.

[Dravokian]

Ok I had very similar problems when I first started running Dresden sense i had never run a fate system before. Here is what I did:

-First I made a cheat sheet with all the characters and and all their aspects on it.

-Then I promoted players self compelling... I even allowed multi-compels in situations where the compel applies to more then 1 aspect. Only problem was to many fate points started to flow so I also put a rule in that you could not compel your aspects more then once per scene. This limited the flow of fate points to a max of 7 per scene but usually more like 4-5.

-Next I started awarding fate points whenever players do things that are particularly inventive, heroic, or funny... i don't mean your character told a funny joke. More along the idea of your character was fighting an ogre and you took off running from the fight screaming like a little girl, to make the ogre think you're all super weak, and when he caught you, you shoved your grenade down the gullet of the ogre and lept away from him letting the internal explosion knock him out. Then you stand over him and declare, "Be careful what you eat, heartburn is a killer." Maybe something less cheesy lol. Other examples would be self sacrifice moves to save a party member, a plan that turns an encounter i have designed that should have been a slobberknocker into a easy situation, ect.

-I also allow my characters to make declarations that they have gotten to know another players character well enough to have figured out some of their aspects. If they seceded the appropriate roll then they learn some aspects and have the ability to compel each other by tagging the companions aspect and passing them a fate point. This works beautifully when the party wants to do a certain course of action but one player is holding out even though he has an aspect that would push him in that direction. By the players compelling each other vs me doing it, it gives the players the feeling that they have a certain amount of control with each other... like they can appeal to what they know of each other to convince one another to help each other. I find that better then the feeling that the world is out of your control because the god figure of the game (GM) tells you its gonna happen and hands you a fate point.

After doing these things I found that my characters have a steady flow of fate points and tend to hover between 3-6 in the bank at almost all times. Due to that they have started framing the scene more and spending them to do more daring heroic moves. I think it has made my games much more interesting.

[sinker]

Another thing you can do is ask for more information from the players about how they would like their aspects to be used. When I write up a character I usually write up an additional aspect sheet in this format:

Trouble: "Who's your daddy? Azathoth's your daddy!"
Invoke: As a bonus to lore rolls via outsiders, as a bonus to lay the smack down, for effect to do something weird and outsiderish (but helpful).
Compel: Can be compelled to generate Raven (ala teen titans) style apocalyptic plot-lines, to make others distrustful of the character (I.E. "you're the son of an outsider? Get him!"), or just to make the character do something weird and outsiderish.

And then give it to the GM. Then they know exactly what the aspect means to me and how they should compel it. Additionally it may give them ideas for how to work it into things.

[The Mighty Buzzard]

A) Snake all their phases sheets at the start of each session and read them all the way through again.

B) Tell them you're having a hard time and they need to start bringing up self compels to get you into the swing of things.  After a session or three like that it'll be easy to spot when a compel is warranted and they'll be more invested in the game to boot.

[polkaneverdies]

Trouble: "Who's your daddy? Azathoth's your daddy!"

Great aspect name. It made me giggle. Which wierded out a customer, so bonus points to you.

[Masurao]

Another thing you can do is ask for more information from the players about how they would like their aspects to be used. When I write up a character I usually write up an additional aspect sheet in this format:

And then give it to the GM. Then they know exactly what the aspect means to me and how they should compel it. Additionally it may give them ideas for how to work it into things.

I just started reading in the Bulldog book and they do the same for pretty much every Aspect I've seen up until now It's in DFRPG too, where they practically tell you to think of three(?) uses of your aspect, one good, one bad and one mixed. Not only will this get the players attuned to their aspects and how to invoke them, but it gives you ideas on how to compel. Of course, don't forget to ask them to write it down And, I bet, if you do it together, the group will start handing out great examples in no time. (Especially when thinking about how to screw each other!)

[ARedthorn]

If you have a particular player who's extra-creative, has a lot of useful compels you just keep forgetting- speak to them before the next session... tell them their job for the session is to self-compel their head off. Once one player starts doing it, the others will catch on quick.
This happened in one of our games, incidentally- I was the player. It was a D20 MnM with it's own FP equivalent, but we liked FPs better so tacked Fate style aspects onto the system quite neatly... but no one was used to the idea. One game, I came across a few situations where we could have, and should have been earning them and spending them like mad... and one turn in particular, I was able to self-compel myself on several aspects at once (the act however, was likely to get myself killed if it failed)... and I went for it. The other players caught on quick, and the rest of the game went VERY well. (I didn't end up dying, but only because one of the other players was able to step in and save me... in part because of him following my lead).

[mstorer3772]

In addition to what's already been offered here, I have another:

Represent fate points with some inedible physical tokens that are easy to slide back and forth.  Poker chips, Go/Pente stones, those glass beads from the bottom of your fish tank (ew), cheesy plastic coin pirate treasure bits, whatever.

Play with them absently while running the game.  The idea here is that by keeping them In Hand, you're reminded of their existence and will Actually Use Them.

It also give something for your players to point at while self-compelling.